Oscars: Democratic Republic Of Congo Selects ‘Rumba Royale’ For Best International Feature Film Race; The Fally Ipupa Starrer Is Country’s Second Ever Submission — SkimNews
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Democratic Republic of Congo selected 'Rumba Royale' for Best International Feature Film at the 99th Academy Awards, marking only the country's second-ever submission after 'Macadam Tribu' in 1997.
- 'Rumba Royale' is co-directed by Yohane Dean Lengol and Hamed Mobasser and set in 1959 Leopoldville (now Kinshasa) during the final months of Belgian colonial rule, centered on the titular nightclub.
- Fally Ipupa, the African rumba star, leads the cast as photographer Daniel, whose personal and political worlds collide as independence movements swell around Club Rumba Royale.
- The film was produced and shot in Kinshasa, assembling Congolese actors, technicians, musicians and emerging film professionals in a market the filmmakers describe as constrained by limited infrastructure and financing.
- Writers Kevin Dwyer and Hamed Mobasser developed the project, with Mobasser — a Belgian diplomat based in Washington, D.C. — also serving as co-director.
Why it matters: DRC's submission gap of 28 years underscores how rarely Congolese filmmaking reaches the Academy Awards, making this a milestone for a local industry that the filmmakers say still operates with limited infrastructure and financing. The film's Kinshasa production and all-Congolese crew give the submission rare authenticity, while Fally Ipupa's star power offers international visibility for a national cinema that rarely gets it.
Ask SkimNews
